2023 Swinney Syrah
Ray Jordan, www.rayjordanwine.com.au, August 2024
“This excellent syrah includes the newly introduced clones 470 and 171, which contribute to a new level of complexity. It’s been made with a light winemaker’s touch and only a tiny amount of new French oak to spice things up. There is structure here diving deep into the medium bodied highly perfumed and supple fruit characters. Spices and a little of the ferrous personality adds to the complexity. Brilliant and bright with such a vibrant palate profile.” 96 points
Wine Specs
Vintage
2023
Varietal
Syrah
Appellation
Frankland River
Harvest Date
3rd, 5th, 12th & 17th April
Acid
6.25
pH
3.55
Bottling Date
February 2024
Residual Sugar
0.6 g/L
Alcohol %
14
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
Deep vibrant purple
Vibrant and perfumed with salted liquorice, black pepper and nori
Medium to full bodied with distinctive fennel seed and schezuan pepper complimenting the mulberry and blueberry fruit. Satisfying long with a coolness to the palate and fine structured tannins
Vineyard Notes
The fruit was from dry-grown, vertically-trellised Syrah with small parcels of fruit hand picked from specific sites on our Swinney Wilson’s Pool & Powderbark vineyards.
The incorporation of mature Massale Selection Syrah blocks and newer 470 and 171 clonal material, with their different growth habits and bunch structures, along with the use of shadecloth on the afternoon sun side of the vines, helped build layers and structural complexity in the finished wine.
Production Notes
The fruit was hand picked, berry sorted, and emptied to small oak and stainless steel fermenters via gravity. We incorporated 22% whole bunches and wild fermentation to build structure and texture and provide the framework on which to express the opulence and spice of Syrah.
The wine spent 12 days on skins prior to being pressed directly to fine-grained, large-format, French oak (7% new), and was aged on lees for 11 months prior to bottling.
The wine was made with minimum effective Sulphites, is unfined and minimally filtered.
Other Notes
100% Syrah